A contrastive analysis of sexist language in english and vietnamese literary works

This study focuses on a cross - cultural analysis of sexist language used in English and Vietnamese literary works.. This paper aims to investigate linguistic factors indicating sexism i

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING

HANOI OPEN UNIVERSITY

M.A Thesis

A CONTRASTIVE ANALYSIS OF SEXIST LANGUAGE IN ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE

LITERARY WORKS

( Đối chiếu ngôn ngữ kỳ thị giới trong một số tác phẩm

văn học của Anh và Việt Nam)

Phạm Nguyễn Bình Nguyên Field: English Language Code: 8.22.02.01

Hanoi - 2021

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING

HANOI OPEN UNIVERSITY

M.A Thesis

A CONTRASTIVE ANALYSIS OF SEXIST LANGUAGE IN ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE

LITERARY WORKS

( Đối chiếu ngôn ngữ kỳ thị giới trong một số tác phẩm

văn học của Anh và Việt Nam)

Phạm Nguyễn Bình Nguyên Field: English Language Code: 8.22.02.01

Supervisor: Dr Le Thi Minh Thao

Hanoi - 2021

I, the undersigned, hereby certify my authority of the study project report entitled "A contrastive analysis of sexist language in English and Vietnamese literary works" submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master in English Language Except where the reference is indicated, no other person‘s work has been used without due acknowledgement in the text of the thesis

Hanoi, 2021

Pham Nguyen Binh Nguyen

Approved by SUPERVISOR

Lê Thị Minh Thảo

Date:………

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I would like to express my appreciation to my supervisor, Dr Le Thi Minh Thao, who has supported and helped me with her suggestions and insightful comments all these months in this difficult undertaking of writing a Master Thesis

I am indebted to teachers at the Library Department who facilitated me

in browsing and borrowing documents to complete this thesis

Last but not least, I must thank my family, my seniors and lecturers in the faculty for the support they provided me during this period

This study focuses on a cross - cultural analysis of sexist language used in English and Vietnamese literary works This paper aims to investigate linguistic factors indicating sexism in various English and Vietnamese literary works, contribute in studying and elucidating the role of language in gender equality assist researchers in sexism specifically in terms of English and Vietnamese literary works The study used contrastive analysis method to discover the characteristics of sexism in English and Vietnamese literary works through 12 English literary works and 09 Vietnamese works Results of the study showed that sexism in English and Vietnamese literature are remarkably simple, although sexism against men in English literature was not apparent On the other hand, sexism language used against women was more severe and serious, and the tropes and characteristics of sexism against women in the two countries are also visibly different Through identifying the similarities and differences of sexism in English and Vietnamese literary works, the study suggests certain methods to avoid sexist characteristics in literature in particular and in daily life in general so that it could be avoided

Keywords: sexism, sexist language, English literature, Vietnamese literature, English literary works, Vietnamese literary works

TABLE OF CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii

ABSTRACT iii

CHAPTER 1 1

1.1 Rationale: 1

1.2 Aims and objectives: 1

1.3 Scope of the study: 2

1.4 Research questions: 2

1.5 Research orientation: 3

1.6 Research methods: 3

1.7 Structure of the Thesis: 4

CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW 5

2.1 Review of previous studies : 5

2.1.1 Studies of sexism in the world 5

2.1.2 Studies of sexism in Vietnam 8

2.2 Review of theoretical background: 9

2.2.1 Sexism 9

2.2.2 Gender, gender marking and gender system in languages 10

2.2.3 The arbitrariness of grammatical gender system, especially gender-identifying systems 11

2.2.4 Lexical void 12

2.2.5 Morphological imbalance in agent nouns depicting males and females 14

2.3 Summary 15

CHAPTER 3: SEXIST LANGUAGE IN ENGLISH AND VIETNAMES LITERARY WORKS 16

3.1 Sexist characteristics in English literary works 16

3.1.1 Sexism against women 16

3.1.2 Sexism against men 27

3.2 Sexist characteristics in Vietnamese literary works 30

3.2.1 Sexism against women 30

3.2.2 Sexism against men 42

3.2.3 Contrastive analysis of sexist characteristics in English and Vietnamese literature 44

3.2.5 Summary 48

CHAPTER 4 CONCLUSION 49

4.1 Recapitulation 49

4.2 Concluding remarks 49

4.3 Limitation of the research 50

4.4 Suggestion for further studies 51

REFERENCES: 52

LITERARY MATERIALS 54

APPENDICES: DATA COLLECTION SHEETS 55

Appendix 1 Sexism against women in English literary works 55

Appendix 2 Sexism against men in English literary works 61

Appendix 3 Sexism against women in Vietnamese literary works 63

Appendix 4 Sexism against men in Vietnamese literary works 67

Appendix 5 Proposals for avoiding sexism in English literature 71

CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION 1.1 Rationale:

Gender equality is an important goal not only to Vietnam but also other nations around the world, also being one of the criteria for assessing the development of a society According to the United Nations, gender equality me ans that women and men enjoy the same conditions to fully realize human rights, have the opportunity to enjoy and contribute to the achievements of developing countries

in terms of politics, economy, society and culture However, in reality, gender inequality still takes place under a number of different forms, such as linguistic sexism

Sexism in life is various in forms and different at levels It is probably most readily associated with economic issues, such as equal pay for equal work The role played by language in maintaining and strengthening sexist values, however, is less widely understood or acknowledged This is probably because linguistic sexism is much more deeply rooted and far more subtle than other forms of sexism The fight for equality of both women and men in such domains as politics and economy has worked effectively and successfully, but in language it seems to be much weaker and receive far less attention All normal people must work and most of them know and require fairness for women and men in labour; all normal people must use language but few of them are aware of fairness for men and women in language And literary works, while being a source of education and inspiration for the people, are also not exempted from this shortcoming In old societies, sexism was expressed not only in daily conversations but also through literary works in those periods Thus, this study is conducted in order to investigate the use of sexist language in English and Vietnamese literature, as well as contribute to reducing sexism in language and literary works

1.2 Aims and objectives:

a Aim of the study: This study aims to investigate linguistic factors

indicating sexism in various English and Vietnamese literary works, contribute in studying and elucidating the role of language in gender equality, and based on the results, provide Vietnamese learners of English language and Vietnamese writer

with suggestions to reduce and optimally, minimize the existence of sexism in their language and mindset

b Objective of the study: To achieve the aforementioned aim, the study

sought to achieve the following objectives

- To find out the characteristics of sexism in some English and Vietnamese literary works

- To compare and contrast sexism on certain fields in English and Vietnamese languages

- To draw implications of the thesis for English learners and writers in Vietnamese of writing without showing sexism

1.3 Scope of the study:

In this study, the author would give spotlight on investigating gender-biased language on English and Vietnamese literary works ranged from medieval to contemporary Gender-biased language in literature can be examined through specific instances chosen from the literary materials The materials selected for the study are classicals covering all historical periods in both English and Vietnamese literature For Medieval periods, the study chose Shakespeare Complete Works, Iliad, The Canterbury Tales, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Truyện Kiều, Văn xuôi tự sự Việt Nam trung đại, Tục ngữ ca dao dân ca Việt Nam, Cung oán ngâm khúc For modern periods, Ernest Hemingway‘s collections, Huckleberry Finn, The winds in the willow, The giver, Nam Cao truyện ngắn tuyển chọn, Tuyển tập Vũ Trọng Phụng, Tuyển tập truyện ngắn Nguyễn Minh Châu were selected

2 What are the similarities and differences between cultural factors of sexism

in English and Vietnamese literary works?

3 How to clarify the hidden message(s) conveyed via the sexism at word and phrase levels in these books?

1.5 Research orientation:

Research approaches: The main aim of the study is to identify sexism characteristics in English and Vietnamese literary works and provide Vietnamese writers and learners of English with suggestions to avoid the use of sexist language

in their works Therefore, to achieve the stated aims, the study utilize s quantitative and qualitative methods to analyze and compare the main features The descriptive and comparative analysis methods are also used to compile the sexism characteristics in details and clarify the similarity and differences from a contrastive

Data analysis techniques: the study researches and selects facts and examples from books, M.A thesis before carefully analyzing and identifying the similarities and differences between sexism expression in Vietnamese and English literature

1.6 Research methods:

Describing and analyzing the characteristics of linguistic sexism in English and Vietnamese literature, exploring the similarities and differences between English and Vietnamese In order to accomplish the aforementioned achievement, some methods are used as follow:

 The main methods emplyed in this study are descriptive and comparative analysis methods with quantitative and qualitative approach The qualitative method is used to describe and interpret the main features of sexism in English and Vietnamese from a cross - cultural perspective, while the quantitative method is used to describe characteristics of sexist language in English and Vietnamese literature Comparative analysis and descriptive methods are used to analyze the gathered information and identify the similarities and differences of sexism in English and Vietnamese literary

 For achieving the aims and objectives of the study with optimal result, selected materials is the main technique to be used In addition, some

examples from M.A thesis and journals from the Internet were selected to help the author find out the similarities and differences of sexist language in Vietnamese and English literary works

1.7 Structure of the Thesis:

The thesis will consist of 4 chapters as follow:

Chapter 1: Introduction will be the first chapter of the study In this chapter, readers will be provided an overview about what is the purpose of this study, what

to expect from reading it and what value can it brings to their personal experience Additionally, the Methodology providing strategies of collecting data, materials and examples will also be included

Chapter 2: Literature review and Theoretical background will briefly mention and review the related materials associating with the objective of the study

Chapter 3: Sexist language in English and Vietnamese will further explain the materials mentioned along with some critical analysis o n what are the main differences and similarity of sexism in the literature of both languages Furthermore, the study will also offer implications for Vietnamese writers in avoiding using sexist languages

Chapter 4: Conclusion will provide a summary to the whole study and what are the limitations when conducting it Some suggestion might appear for future references and improvement

CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1 Review of previous studies:

2.1.1 Studies of sexism in the world

Language is not merely a means of exchanging information but it is also animportant means of establishing and maintaining social relationship with othermembers of the speech community Sex-based linguistic variation is an example of the sort of social function that is fulfilled by language In fact, sex differences are a fundamental fact of sociolinguistic life For example, there are certain forms of language which are thought to be appropriate only for men to use and other forms which only women can use In some cases, these differences depend not only on the sex of the addresser, but also on the sex of the addressee According to Fasold (1990), sex-linked linguistic variation involves ‗the differential use of certain status marking forms by sex‘ (p 115) One of the major issues in sociolinguistic studies has been the relationship between sex and language and how

it is represented In fact, the study of language and gender began in 1975 by the publication of three books which have continued to significantly influence

sociolinguistic works: Male/Female Language (M R Key), Language and Women‘s Place (R Lakoff), and Difference and Dominance (Thorne & Henley)

Since then, sociolinguists have fundamentally shown a great deal of interest in sex and language relationship mostly with respect to the presence or absence in a few languages of linguistic forms that are used only by speakers of one sex or the other Sexism in textbooks has been studied in Europe and America since 1970s The most relevant studies of sexism and its manifestations in ESL/EFL textbooks that can be

tracked down are Hartman and Judd‘s (1978) Sexism and TESOL Materials, Hellinger‘s (1980) For Men Must Work, Women Must Weep: Sexism in English Language Textbooks Used in German Schools, and Porreca‘s (1984) Sexism in Current ESL Textbooks Hartman and Judd‘s review in 1978 of several then-current

TESOL textbooks examined three categories of sexism: the images of women and men, firstness (the order of female-male mention), and stereotyped roles for males and females They demonstrated that ‗since sexist usage is built into our language

(English), it is little wonder that textbooks, including ESL texts, model this usage to the students‘ (p.390)

For each category, they found evidence that ELT materials reflect sexist attitudes and values And they believed this ‗reinforces the second-place status of women and could, with only a little effort, be avoided‘ (p 390) Hellinger (1980), a native German, carried out a study of 131 passages from three ELT textbooks used

in German schools She found that men were present in more than 93% of the passages, while only about 30% of the texts included women

What is more, she proved that 80% of the speakers were male and that women were rarely participated in demanding, interesting, or successful activities, while males played their roles in a wide range of jobs Porreca (1984) investigated how sexism is manifested in 15 ESL textbooks and with what consequences by using content analysis method The author paid attention to omission (the ratio of females

to males) both in texts and illustrations, firstness, occupations, the frequency of male nouns to female nouns, female-exclusive masculine generic constructions, and adjectives for men and women In a content analysis of the textbooks, she found that ‗there is evidence that sexism continues to flourish in ESL textbooks‘ (p 718) She reported that although females comprise slightly over half the population of the United States, they are represented only half as often as males in both texts and illustrations Beside the above important studies of sexism in textbooks, there are some other studies on sexism in teaching and learning materials that should be mentioned

Coles (1977) examined five sets of popular adult basic education materials and found that in the total of 150 stories, men outnumbered women by a ratio of 3:1 Britton and Lumpkin (1977) compared reading, literature, and social studies textbooks published before and after the year 1970 to determine whether guidelines

to correct sexism had resulted in any positive consequences The changes, however, were not what to expect: they found that females portrayed as major characters had increased only by 2%, up to 16% in the new textbooks

Hoomes (1978) investigated 28 high school literature anthologies for grades 9 through 12 and found evidence that the overall ratio of total female characters to total male characters in the books was 1:3.5 She also found that the mean ratio of

available professions for females to those for males was 1:5 in texts and 1:7 in illustrations

In the 1990s, Peterson & Kroner (1992) conducted an examination of gender biases in textbooks for psychology and human development Their findings demonstrated that representation of work, theory, and behavior of males significantly exceeded those of females; and females were frequently portrayed in negative and gender biased ways Poulou (1997) explored differences in the discourse roles of men and women in dialogs of textbooks for teaching Greek as a foreign language to adults Her focus on whether sexist differences could affect negatively the pedagogical value and goals of textbook dialogs and she demonstrated that the effect was quite obvious

Most recently in the early 21st century, Sydney (2004) investigated gender role stereotyping in 40 textbooks in primary schools in Tanzania and found that female

characters depicted were fewer compared to males Bahiyah et al (2008) found that

children understanding about the world and the relationship within the society were acquired through Malaysian textbooks, which allowed linguistic sexism and genderroles stereotyping to permeate into the mind of the students and later reproduce in their everyday life

The study by Otlowski (2003) discussed the importance of Japanese textbook selection for EFL students with regards to the portrayal of gender representation in the targeted culture In many cases, the representation of women in EFL textbooks

in Japan portrayed a stereotypical role of women as mothers and homemakers Another Japanese linguist, Mineshima (2008), studied gender representations in an EFL textbook to investigate how it portrays the two genders She examined sexism

in three categories including number of females versus males, number of their utterances and firstness The results of the research showed that females were under-represented and overloaded with traditional stereotype roles whereas males appeared only as cooperative and optional From the above mentioned studies, it is easy to realize the attraction of sexism in language to the world researchers during nearly half a century from Europe through America to Asia In many teaching and learning materials examined, it was found that females are less visible than males and that there is sex bias against women

2.1.2 Studies of sexism in Vietnam

In Vietnam, some researchers have been interested in the relation between language and gender since 1990s Binh (2000) studied some gender differences in children‘s language while Dung (2002) demonstrated females‘ politeness in communication

Khang (2000) argues that sex discrimination in language may be found in such categories as words with male factor showing male dominance in society, the use of

he/his instead of she/her, the use of titles like Mr, Mrs and Miss, and stereotype attitudes in phrases like unwed mother and unwed father

The first Vietnamese linguist who has systematically studied sexism in language

is Diep (2002) In his works entitled Sự kỳ thị giới tính trong ngôn ngữ qua cứ liệu tiếng Anh và tiếng Việt (Sexism in language through English and Vietnamese database), he argues that sexism in language can be found not only against females

but also against males (2002, p 9) However, sex bias against women is paid more attention to in his study and it is seen in the following categories

i) Gender in grammar and its relation with sex in biology : there are

certaindifferent points of view on the relation between gender in grammar and sex

in terms of biology Some agrees that there must be some relation between them but some others do not But the thing should be concerned about is the display of

sexism in the use of gender in language The male pronouns like he, his and him are

used to include both the two sexes in some cases

ii) Markedness of sex in language: Many words showing the jobs of femalesare derived from the words showing the jobs of males For instance, actress and waitress are formed by adding the suffix ess to actor and waiter

iii) Unbalance of words related to females and males in terms of meanings :

Words can have different meanings when they are used to describe men or women

For example, the word professional has different meaning depending on sex: he is a professional means he is excellent in a particular aspect while she is a professional

means she is a prostitute

iv) Sexism in naming/ titles: names and titles are used to show sex and marital status In the past, a married woman is entitled Mrs while Miss is used for an unmarried one However, thanks to the fight for equality in using titles, Mrs and Miss are now replaced by Ms

v) Stereotypes of sex in language: Stereotypes in describing females in English can be found in such words/ phrases as a gorgeous blonde, wives of, devoted to a husband, looking after husband and children The review of the previous studies

related to the issue shows that there are not many researchers in Vietnam concerning sexism in language although it has been a heated topic in the world sociolinguistic research for some decades now The first study of the topic carried out by Diep (2002) provides a general view on sexism in language but there is a shortage of deep investigation into the phenomenon in a specific type of materials This has partly urged me to perform the present research

Based on the findings of forerunner studies, it can be seen that scholars over the world paid exceptional attention on the issue of sexism in language Nonetheless, these studies only cover sexism in the most extens ive extent Thus, the study will contribute in the work by addressing sexist language in literary works

2.2 Review of theoretical background:

2.2.1 Sexism:

There are multiple definitions of sexism Collins Cobuild English Dictionary (1995) defined sexism as the belief that the members of one sex, usually women are less intelligent or less capable than those, of the other sex and need not be treated equally Sex discrimination or sexism, a term that appears during the mid-twentieth century, is a belief or attitude that one gender is inferior, less powerful and less valuable than the other This term is used to refer to male dominance over female The fight against sexism, whose center is the feminist movement taking place in various forms and not just for women

In English, the concept of sexism in language has another name: ―Sexist language‖, ―Sex – exclusive‖ language, ―Gender - biased language‖ Example: Every cook praises his own broth (Each the chef all praises his own dish), "his" is used to include "her" The use of the word "his" in such an inclusive fashion shows that male bias, considering men as a representative of women as well

Miller & Swift (1972) give the definition: sexism in language or sexist language is any expression that expresses attitudes and gender expectations or any expression that expresses the inherent dominance of this world versus the other

The above definitions all show one thing in common Key points of sexism in language is in the depiction of images of men and women in language These expressions depict higher appreciation for one sex and lower appreciation for the other

Wardhaugh (1986) explains that sexism is any discrimination against women

or men because of their sex, and made on irrelevant grounds The Oxford English Dictionary (1989) defines sexism as the assumption that one sex is superior to the other and the resultant discrimination practiced against members of the supposed inferior sex, esp by men against women; also conformity with the traditional stereotyping of social roles on the bases of sex From these definitions, it can be inferred that sexism is simply the overestimation of one sex and/ or the underestimation of the other sex In other words, it is generally considered as anything that conveys that one sex is superior to the other

Understanding the essence of sexism will help the author as well as readers grasp the characteristics of sexist language in general as well as in the field of literature

2.2.2 Gender, gender marking and gender system in languages :

Gender is a grammatical category that affects nouns, it is considered a kind

of system used for classifying nouns into different groups Those groups or classes

of nouns will behave differently in response to other parts of speech or language Although gender is not completely universal in languages, there are still a significant number of languages displaying the existence of this category Corbett (1991: 1) mentioned different sides of gender attribution and gender marking in more than 200 different languages However, he also remarked that languages of almost every language family possess gender systems with a few major exceptions being certain major Asian language families

The term "gender" is widely used to refer to this grammatical category, but there are other terms such as "class" or "class of nouns" The term "gender" is inherently a word translated from many foreign languages that within those foreign languages, this term is also translated or borrowed from the Latin word "genus" Therefore, this is not a word used in everyday language or in specialized texts There are many languages possessing a system of 2 or 3 genders, and there are

languages with a system of up to 20 genders and subgenders At the same time, the labels used for these genders are also very different Besides the popular labels used

in many languages such as: masculine, feminine, and neutrals, there are other labels such as: Animal, nonanimal, strong, weak, human, nonhuman, etc In some cases,

genders are numbered rather than labeled (as in Dyirbal, an Aboriginal language of Australia)

Corbett (1991: 1) distinguishes two types of gender systems which are grammatical gender system and notional gender system

The grammatical system can be subdivided into the morphological system and phonological system

The notional system is based on in the semantic-based gender attribution system of nouns system Such systems are also called natural systems

2.2.3 The arbitrariness of grammatical gender system, especially g identifying systems:

Many researchers believe that masculine is used as the "dominant" gender or the more "valuable" gender than feminine Based on semantics and morphology, languages distinguish genders into masculine, feminine, and neuter In the such languages, in most cases masculine is the gender determining the response model in the case of inclusive nouns, depicting both genders with agent nouns for male and female

In this aspect, English and Vietnamese are similar in that they both belong to

a type of language that possess a natural gender system or a notional gender system

In this case, sexism is expressed in the use of masculine pronouns to replace common nouns of gender in inclusive contexts

In English, there are speech patterns as follows:

The teacher is responsible for his students

The word ―teacher‖ is an inclusive word for both genders (can refer to either male

or female), but its corresponding possessive pronoun is "his" (masculine) rather than "her" (female) Or:

If a friend wishes to become a member, please ask him to write for information

The word "friend" is also an inclusive word for both genders, but it‘s personal pronoun is "him" (masculine) rather than "her" (female) Even in similar cases of

marked nouns such as ―actor‖, "actress", masculine nouns are often used as inclusive nouns

In Vietnamese, in the education sector, a similar example is the use of the word "thầy" as a title of honor and as a personal pronoun Nowadays, when

referring to those who participate in pedagogy, people use the phrase ―thầy cô giáo‖ But in the general relationship between teachers and learners, people often only use the term ―thầy-trò", but not ―cô-trò" Thus the word ―thầy‖ was also used

to refer to females in this case In other words, the word ―teacher‖, which was originally a masculine word, is now used as an inclusive nouns referring to both gender

While translating documents and learning materials from foreign languages

to Vietnamese, it is also difficult to avoid using the second personal pronouns "anh"

- a pronoun that includes both men and women Nguyen Lai (1997: 62) wrote: ―Và khi xuất hiện thì ngôn ngữ ấy là của tôi và của anh, ngôn ngữ ấy cho tôi và cả cho anh…‖

2.2.4 Lexical void

In English, many authors believe that, except for certain words depicting females such as: mother, waitress, etc and words that refer to occupations that are traditionally believed to be done only by women: nurse, secretary, etc., the actual use of language gives people the impression that humanity is all male (Miller and Swift, 1972) For example, when one hears the word doctor, that person immediatelly feels that it is a masculine rather than feminine word These two authors argue that the phenomenon exist dueto English as well as the culture it reflects have a tendency to favour males In terms of word structure, although in

English, there is a female morpheme – woman, but there is no word fisherwoman but only fisherman, in that - man is the male morpheme

In Vietnamese, in essence, the phenomenon of lexical void is similar to that

of other languages, but the form of expression is somewhat different For example,

when hearing words such as: bác sĩ, kỹ sư, etc., most Vietnamese people

immediately feel that they are more masculine than feminine

Many linguists have tried to trace the origin of these that lexical void and there have been different interpretations But we can generalize these interpretations into two main groups: Linguistic and sociological explanations

Linguistically, lexical voids affecting the creation of feminine forms of words is due to what many authors refer to as phonological institution In other words, in some languages, the "female" suffix in some words have performed a function other than the female marking function

There is another sociological explanation According to this, the cause of the lexical voids in words indicating women in certain occupations is the impact of social factors It is easy to notice that the absence of female words mainly occurring in the

noun area depicting professions with high social prestige In English, doctor, lawyer

etc are professional nouns with high social prestige that according to traditions, women have difficulties in catching up with There is a similar phenomenon in Vietnamese, with nouns referring to people with high-reputation professions such

as: bác sĩ, tiến sĩ, công an, or nouns referring to people possessing characteristics that the society considers typical of men (strong, seasoned, cheeky) such as: đồ vật, cầu thủ, trộm cướp, etc Another example in Vietnamese is a way to use the word thầy in the way of depicting the teacher-student relationship or thầy-trò to refer to

the relationship between teachers and learners The fact that there is no way to say the relationship between female teachers and students is the trace of an ancient concept: Teaching is considered to be the profession of man

Lexical voids are found in the area of nouns depicting people who do certain occupations that, although open to men, are not attractive to the majority of men This phenomenon is common in many European languages For example, in Italian, Dutch, and French there is no word for male midwives and neither is there in

English In Vietnamese it is the opposite, when we say "nhân viên đỡ đẻ" or "đỡ đẻ", the listener still understand that these are feminine nouns Just like in English,

there is no noun illustrating men who work as midwives in Vietnamese The same

argument can be made for words like hộ lí (health specialization), thư ký giám đốc

(administrative area) etc These are the manifestations of lexical voids, which have contributed to the increase in the invisibility of women in language - a feature of gender discrimination against women in language

2.2.5 Morphological imbalance in agent nouns depicting males and females

While lexical gaps contribute to the increase of women invisibility in languages, the derivation of feminine words from masculine words has contributed

to confirming the notion that in languages, the female gender is treated as secondary and has a subordinate status

In English, although today feminine suffixes are not capable of production in

the same way as before, there was a time when suffixes like - esse and - ette were added to a masculine root to make a feminine word Example: Manager manageress, poet - poetess The fact that these suffixes are used to mark the female

designation can show the secondary and subordinate status of women in languages Furthermore these suffixes are also used to create demeaning words In English, according to Baron (1986), the suffix - ette is a very common suffix used to create a decrease in meaning in nineteenth century And it is this function of the feminine suffixes that contributes to Given the position of the feminine element, women in the language are weaker and more dependen more dependent on men

Having separate words for depicting men and women in occupations has allowed men to separate themselves from women professionally This becomes even more true in the case of agent nouns for women structured by suffixes This argument is similar to the objection r to the common naming practice of married women in the nineteenth century and early twentieth century (Stannard 1977) For

example "John Smith" in ―Mrs John Smith‖ is her husband's name In the eyes of

some men, such naming habits degraded their reputation because this male name can be given to women

Vietnamese is not a metamorphic language, so it is difficult to manifest a morphologically similar in this aspect However, in terms of meaning, it is possible

to notice that there is a major distinction between feminine and masculine terms for professions as we have analyzed above Let's take the example of changes in meaning over time of a word of honor in Vietnamese Chronologically, the

honorific meaning of the word "bà" in the word "bà chánh" has a totally different internal content to the one as in "bà hiệu trưởng" or "bà chủ tịch" which is the

way to address the very women who hold that position or profession with the meaning of gender marking As mentioned, gender marking also expresses lexical

voids, and that is also the factor that creates female invisibility in languages Thus, going through a long period of historical development, the meaning of sexism can

be transferred from one form to another However, that change in meaning reflected

a change in the status of women in the area of words depicting professions in language and society

In English, there are the same words that possess different meanings when they are used for women and men and there are sex-pairs of words that contain different colors of meanings for women and men Linguistic sexism in semantics is against both of the two sexes but the terms used for females outnumber those for males In English, a word may have different connotations when it is collocated with a male term or a female term When used for women, the same words are likely to narrow and assume sexual connotations The following examples of the typical words will help to illustrate the point

2.3 Summary

This chapter has shown that much research in sexism in language has been carried out in American, European and some Asian countries up to the present Nevertheless, very few studies on the issue have been undertaken in Vietnam Sexism can be found in many different forms and linguistic sexism found in different categories or fields Sexism in language has been explored in various materials such as stories, films but the most common materials are language textbooks Methodologically, linguistic sexism has been studied with different methods like content analysis, critical discourse analysis and corpus-based approach, of which content analysis has been the most preferably employed The

next chapter will take an in-depth look at the methodology of the present research

CHAPTER 3:

SEXIST LANGUAGE IN ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE

LITERARY WORKS 3.1 Sexist characteristics i n English literary works

Despite sexism often clearly manifested in Eastern cultures where characteristics of feudal patriarchcal society heavily imposed on the people, sexist language was also found in Western countries, where the contempt against women was clearly expressed in their literature Similarly, men were also the target of toxic language in the old society

3.1.1 Sexism against women

In this part, the study presents and discusses the two main characteristics of sexist language against women in English literature, which are gender imbalance and stereotypes against women

3.1.1.1 Gender imbalance in English literature

One of the manifestations of sexism in language is the lack of semantic balance between words/phrases depicting females and words/phrases depic ting males This is common in many languages, even in European and also Asian languages According to the studies of precusors such as Hellinger (1985), Corbett (1991), Hjelmslev (1956), Lyons (1969), Herbert&Nykiel-Herbert (1986), this imbalance is shown in pairs of opposites of different meanings:

- Women are associated with sex >< Man associated with talent

- Women are associated with negative associations >< Men are associated with positive associations

The following is a review of the semantic imbalance in the aforementioned pair of opposites:

i) Women are associated with sex >< Man associated with talent

There are many word pairs in American English arranged by gender, but the feminine word always has an sexually associated meaning while the masculine word retains a serious work-related tone only For example, in the pair of words

callboy - callgirl, callboy means the stagehand that alerts actors and actresses for cue, while callgirl means prostitute Another example is the pair Sir – Madam,

where sir is a word bearing a respectful expression while madam can be understood

as the owner of a prostitution ring Similarly, old master means brilliant painter and old mistress means previous lover

ii) Women are associated with negative associations >< Men are associated with positive associations

The difference in the association meaning between the expression of the concept of male and female can also be found in word pairs that differ only in

gender directive meaning For example, the word bachelor and spinster/old maid

both mean a person without a spouse, but a bachelor is only male gender and spinster/old maid only female The problem here is the difference does not only manifest in the issue of gender but also in meanings associated with those words

The word bachelor (single man) has such positive association that women have tried to find ways to use this word instead of the words spinster/ old maid which

always carry the connotative meaning These are derivatives of the word bachelor

like bachelor-girl or bachelorette (Appendix 1, a) derivatives of bachelor)

Another pair of words with similar meaning in English are patron and matron

In Medieval English patron means father and matron has means mother The high prestige of the meaning associated with the word patron is shown in collections of words such as a patron of the arts or a patron saint Meanwhile, the word matron is

conspicuous in expressions referring to female prison guards or female public toilet

managers Due to positiveness in the meaning of the word patron, women tried to use the word patroness (female patron/guardian goddess) which is a derivative of the word patron used instead of the word matron is negative in meaning (Appendix

1, b) Instances of the word matron)

In English, the word shrew (a type of mouse) means sour woman But the

word shrewd is a cognate that means smart/skillful/smart beneficial when used to

refer to men e.g as in ―The Taming of the Shrew‖, pg 2877, Shakespeare

There are the word pair wizard and witch Both words mean "magic users" The difference is that the word wizard is a masculine word means a combination of skill, intelligence and magic, while the word witch is a feminine word meaning a combination of miracles and dark intentions (Appendix 1, c) The word pair wizard and witch)

iii) Women were considered goods or given no individual existence under patriarchal society

Shakespeare‘s The Taming of the Shrew is the prime example where the

portrayal of women‘s existence being denied or considered good is most apparent e theme of misogyny and patriarchy arises through the presentation of the minor female characters as well as Bianca ad Katherina The fact that Shakespeare chose not to give Hortensio‘s ‗Widow‘ her own name creates the impression of her as someone with no individual existence of her own Her name was defined by her husband death, suggesting the men in her life therefore defined her and her disposition also illustrating their control over her Shakespeare was trying to convey society at the time‘s views and their treatment of women; how women were repressed by male-centered societies and classed as subservient while men were superior and had power oven women in the late 16th century

Also the ―wealthy widow‖ was Hortensio‘s second choice to Bianca, he very

swiftly moves on after he declares he is ―never to woo her more‖ (pg.2937) saying

he will marry ―ere three days pass‖ (pg.2938) Shakespeare does this to illustrate to

the audience how dismissive men were of women, he uses Hortensio‘s attitudes towards Bianca as an example of society‘s attitudes towards women at the time Shakespeare based the character of Bianca on the stock character of ‗Ingénue‘, a young woman who is beautiful, gentle, sweet and virginal However once Hortensio

realizes she is a ―proud disdainful haggard‖ (pg.2938), Hortensio quickly

―forswears her as one unworthy of all the former favors that I have fondly flattered her withal‖ (pg.2937) By using fricative alliteration, Shakespeare makes

Hortensio‘s anger and feelings of disgust at Bianca‘s actions clear to readers This shows us that Hortensio only wanted Bianca when she was obedient and submissive representing how women were judged by their appearances and Bianca was only sought after and made endearing due to Shakespeare‘s first presentation of her as a

chaste and wholesome ―young modest girl‖ Hortensio then goes on to say that he requires ―kindness of women‖, portraying a stereotypical male chauvinist attitude

toward women‘s role in the Elizabethan era, to what is expected of a women and

how they should offer ―love, fair looks and true obedience‖ (pg,2963) to their husbands because they have ―such a duty as the subject owes a prince‖

In Act 5 Scene 2, the widow becomes insubordinate and refuses to come when

asked by her husband ―She says you have some goodly jest in hand ‖ (pg.2961)

showing how the widow is in control of the situation and thus representing her control over her marriage to Hortensio; this is backed up when Petruchio claims that

―Hortensio fears his widow‖ (pg./2959) By doing this Shakespeare presents the

widow as strong character which juxtaposes the earlier interpretation that she is weak and controlled my men due to the name given to her This oxymoronic presentation

of the widow suggests that Shakespeare did not intend the play to seem misogynistic but instead he was actually trying to put across his view that society treatment of

women was imprudent Bill Alexander wrote ―on one level Shrew is about the power

of theatre to change people, to actually make people see themselves, and you, through seeing life reproduced on the stage.‖ Shakespeare is believed to have wanted his

audiences to view his play and then reflect on their own treatment of women in

general; this allows ‗The Taming of the Shrew‘ to be relevant when viewed in any

time period, and not just when women were considered to be beneath men

The theme of misogyny running throughout this play is questionable due to Shakespeare‘s inclusion of the Induction It places the Katherina and Petruchio plot

on a none realistic level due to the idea of it being ‗a play inside a play‘ This

allows everything within the secondary play to seem less real and it is then viewed

as a farcical and buoyant comedy and by doing this, Shakespeare shows that he wants the audience to not take play themes of ‗Female Submission‘ literally The induction, however, was not kept up throughout the play, thus, I believe audiences will take the misogynistic and patriarchal plots concerning Bianca and Katerina more seriously than Shakespeare intended them to be Shakespeare shows that he did not believe in these recurring themes linking to the attitudes of societies of the time because in ‗The Taming of the Shrew‘ he mocks the all the expectations and traditions present in the Elizabethan period At the time, Shakespeare‘s view on women displayed through his female protagonists was very advanced and contemporary, presenting them as the dominant gender However the attitudes of certain characters in his plays mirrored the mind-set of the people of his time however the way he presented his women showed that he saw women very differently from the way most people in that era

There are other examples (Appendix 1, d) Women‘s existence being denied or considered goods in old English society) such as Catherine Barkley in Hemingway‘s

A Farewell to Arm, a character so insubstantial that we barely notice her inclination toward self-effacement, Dido in Virgil‘s Aeneid, who famously stabs herself on a

makeshift funeral pyre after Aeneas dumps her—concluding her downward spiral from savvy Queen of Carthage to hysterical ex-girlfriend, all at the whim of the gods

Or in Daniel Defoe‘s Robinson Crusoe, women are literally given as gifts to the men

of Crusoe‘s newly colonized island, in In Homer‘s Iliad, women are ―won‖ and

traded as prizes and property, but we only hear Achilles complaining about it We

can‘t possibly omit Saul Bellow‘s Herzog from any discussion of literary sexism,

with his clear depiction of women being simply a possession of men

3.1.1.2 Stereotypes regarding women in English literature

Throughout the Medieval period, women were viewed as second class citizens, and their needs always were an afterthought They were either held to be completely deceitful, sexual, innocent, or incompetent Therefore, women were mostly withheld from positions of power or speaking their voice; males made decisions for them, and their lives were dictated by the men that ran the society Despite their lack of validation and suppression, however, women in Medieval literature were certainly present in many works and in various forms Some tropes feed into the idea that women are subservient and inferior to men such as the Virgin, which portrays females as passive and weak, or the mother whose very life circles around making a better life for her family and especially for her husband, or even the whore who has no power in her sexuality and must give it away for the wellbeing of her family or the men in society However, there are some archetypes that break this cycle like the Trickster or Witch who break the social norms and stand out, displaying qualities of cunning intelligence, intimidation, and power The sections below will dive deeper into the disparity between how women were viewed in Medieval society and how they were portrayed in the literature of the time

i) “The Virgin”

Perhaps the most common, and most positively looked upon character trope to

be affiliated with women in literature is ―The Virgin‖ According to the majority of early literature, women‘s primary function was to remain ―pure‖ until they are wed

and then permitted to produce children If an unwed woman were to appear in literature back in Medieval times, she would almost indefinitely be made into a virtuous, pure woman

In Medieval literature, The Virgin is often the voice of reason She is rational, down-to-earth, and guiding (as far as guiding the main character towards the path that God has set out for them) Telling the hero what God has in store for them is The Virgin‘s primary job She tries to keep the hero on their quest She is often described as beautiful, graceful Though still generally a secondary or even tertiary character in Medieval literature, The Virgin is still important to the plot She is respected and protected in some way throughout the story Even when she is in trouble, the author doesn‘t do any physical damage to her, often just putting her to sleep or locking her somewhere until the hero can save her

For example, in Spenser‘s The Faerie Queene, the saintly princess Una were depicted with all tropes of the Virgin (Appendix, Table 5.)

ii) “The Mother”

Throughout the Medieval Period, women‘s most important role was that of a mother or child bearer, whether she was rich or poor, children were her first priority Women‘s role in society was often compared to that which is written in the Bible Real life women were subservient and oppressed due to the fact that Bible dictated they should be that way and religion was so closely adhered to Eve, the creator of Original Sin was often seen as why women should be suppressed and obedient, though the Virgin Mary provide a contrast of Eve and was looked upon to

be great She did everything to help support the men in her family, as Alixe Bovey states, ―Just as rural women helped with their husbands‘ work, urban women assisted their fathers and husbands in a wide variety of trades and crafts‖ Everything that a woman did related to how it would better men‘s lives Women had every loyalty to their husbands and families Raising a son who was well suited for society was the best and most important thing a woman could do because men were true contributions to society Richer women who were mothers did not directly raise their children, though bearing them was still their most important job in the household Men still ruled the roost especially as C.N Trueman states, ―producing a male heir within a rich family was considered vital‖ Poor women needed to bear a

lot of children, preferably males, in order to create a work force for their husband Everything circles back to the importance of men and women providing men and for men in the society

Medieval literature often represents women in very distinct lights, and most of them are not very becoming While the light may not always be a good o ne, there is always a light shining on women, as they are usually central to the story The role of mother is often necessary, but often seen as the subservient, protective -from-afar character that classified a real life medieval woman The women who are portrayed

as mothers such as in The Second Shepherd‘s Play are exemplified to reflect women

in the Bible such as the Virgin Mary during the play within the play, because it is a mystery play that real life Medieval people would be able to relate to while watching The mother who does not act as the Virgin Mary, or is not the image of perfection is seen to be failing at her only job in life As one of the shepherds, Mak,

states, ―[My wife] Lies weltering, by the rood, By the fire, lo! And a house full of brood She drinks well, too: Ill speed other good That she will do! But she Eat as fast as she can; and ilk year that comes to man She brings forth a lakan –and some years two‖ (340-350) By a man‘s standards she is falling down on her wifely

duties, but what should be her redeeming quality, bearing a lot of children, does not even seem to cheer him up Men dictate exactly the way that a woman should be and this man believes that if his wife is not taking what he believes to be proper care

of her children, then she should not be having them Every woman should be a mother, but only if she is a good one This woman is defined by what her husband thinks of her and even though she is fulfilling her duty, she is not doing it well enough for him and therefore is completely belittled

In the epic poem, Beowulf, Grendel‘s mother exemplifies a different type of

protectiveness While she does take on a more masculine role, she is simply conforming to the society that she is placed in the way other mothers in medieval

literature abide by all of society‘s rules ―She does demonstrate an awareness and acceptance of a code of honor when she seeks revenge for the death of her son ‗―In the European Middle Ages, as in virtually all periods of human history, warfare is see as a masculine activity;‖‘ (O‘Pry-Reynolds) While she does not conform to the

normal mother and subservient woman, she does become who she has to in order to

uphold the ideals of the society While she does not take on the normal role of women in the society, it requires that she protect her son in a different manner and therefore she does what she has to in order to be the best mother she can be

iii) “The Witch”

Witches are women who possess knowledge and power, depending on when in history the witch is living in she could either be an important member of society, or she could live at risk of being drowned or burned alive During the hay day of the witch hunts any women who is different than the societal expectation of a women would be at risk of being tried as a witch Because of this fear of those who are different witches are often viewed as villainous people

Witches are women, usually older women, many of them were wise women and their craft was passed down from generation to generation Black witches ar e the witches who we often think of today, with dark spells and ominous potions The distinction between these two categories of witches was lost during the Bubonic Plague, during this time filled with death, despair, and confusion people were seeking to find a scapegoat for all the death Witches were one of the groups of people who are ―different‖ and are to blame for the deaths of the plague

Then Malleus Maleficarum (or the Hammer of Witches) was written about a century

later in 1486 by Jacob Sprenger, and Heinrich Kramer In this book witches were described as ―satanic and sexual abominations‖, and while the black death may be over this was still a time filled with famines and death The people suffering wanted a scapegoat; so they turned to witches who were now the blame the all the misfortunes

in people‘s lives such as: animals dying, a bad harvest, houses being burnt down, and

curdled food Around the writing of the Hammer of Witches Pope Leo X made a bill

decreeing that all those convicted with witchcraft were to be executed

Examples in literature

Witches have been an inspiration in literature for hundreds of years, whether they are just characters, or are the inspiration for a whole literary piece Morgan la Fey is a part of many literary works, and has been an inspiration for many young

girls in the Mists of Avalon series She is always Arthur‘s older sister, is always

present in the story line, and is often has a very prominent role in Arthurian story

lines, but in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight she has a minimal role where the

audience sees her She is introduced in the beginning of the story line as an old crone in great detail, and does not have a major appearance again until the end of the story line when the characters who inhibit the castle reveal themselves as who they truly are and we see the crone is in fact Morgan la Fey and was using magic to turn King Bertilak into the Green Knight and is the heart of this magical adventure

iv) “The Whore”

Upon the many character tropes to be associated with, when discussing Medieval literature, ―The Whore‖ is probably the most negative In the Middle Ages, Women were widely considered lower than men, thus not worthy of performing the same task or activities that men typically did

Most of the medieval social structure made it very hard for women to find their place in society Women did not have the same rights as men, or same privileges as men, so many of them just did whatever society told them they were supposed to do Overtime, as women were constantly told their place in society, many women started fulfilling their taught role of the Medieval Prostitute, otherwise known as ―The Whore‖ of Medieval society

Many of the female characters in the literature we have read, have been perceived as weak and incompetent Writer‘s, such as Chaucer, allude us to the

thought of women‘s purpose and place in society In his sub story of ―The Canterbury Tales‖, ―The Wife of Bath‘s Tale‖ Chaucer makes multiple references

to the traditional ideas of women culture, and what women want The old woman in

―The Wife of Bath‘s Tale‖ symbolizes much of ―The Whore‖ trope In the context

of the tale, the old woman, the wife, presents herself as an authority figure on marriage However her behavior throughout much of the prologue gives us the inclination that she is fulfilling the role of ―The Whore‖ trope of Medieval women

in literature Specifically the lines from the prologue of ―The Wife of Bath‘s Tale‖ below serve as a great example of Chaucer‘s allusion to Medieval Prostitution and how the old woman is displaying some of ―The Whore‖ characteristics

“They hadde me yiven hir land and hir tresor/Me needed nat do lenger diligence/To wine hir love or doon hem reverence‖ (Lines 210-213)

These lines from the tale strongly illuminate the traditional idea of the woman

prostitute only caring about their man‘s money or riches ―Hath me biraft my

beautee and my pith/Lat go, farewell, the devel go therwith!/The flour is goon, ther

is namore to telle:/The bren as I best can now moste I selle;‖ (Lines 481-484)

These lines from The Wife of Bath‘s tale of Chaucer‘s Canterbury Tales demonstrate Chaucer‘s allusion to ―The Whore‖ trope of women in Medieval literature Through the language used in this line, Chaucer provides us with the knowledge of the old woman getting her pay back against society by making her fourth husband think that she is sleeping around too Many women in the early centuries of Europe, particularly England, were discriminated by much of society and were always labeled as a ―whore‖ for sleeping around with other men Sleeping around in the Medieval society, for women, was looked upon as a huge sin and a crime in many parts of Europe during the Middle ages With this being said and considered, Chaucer seems to be conveying his allusion to women both fighting against and conforming to traditional views upon Medieval prostitutes by mentioning these lines in the ―Wife of Bath‘s Tale‖

v) “The Trickster”

There is a distinct purpose for the trickster archetype in Medieval Li terature It

―served a conservative function in serving to reassert social norms valued for innate wit, an asset for surviving in any society They act as a creator and a destroyer, transgressing boundaries but also being defined by them‖ (Perfetti 633)

This trope comes to life in the Wife of Bath‘s Tale with the character of the old hag

The old woman serves as an advisor to the knight in the tale, being the source, which reveals to him what women most desire When he approaches her, she has the power in the relationship and questions what his purpose is wandering down the

road she was on He asks, ―‗My leve moder,‘ quod this knight, ‗certain / I nam but deed but if that I can sayn / What thing it is that wommen most desire / Coude ye me wisse, I wold well quite you‘re hire‖ (1012-1014) The knight seems to know that

this woman possesses a unique knowledge and wit, and the fact that he places his life in her hands shows that he knows she is skilled at surviving in society She transgresses the boundaries that Medieval society holds her to, which are silence

and powerlessness, and holds the knight to a deal, stating, ―‗Plight me thy trouthe here in myn hand,‘ quod she / The next thing that I requere thee / Thou shalt it do, if

it lie in thy might / And I wol telle it you er it be night‖ (1015-1018) Holding the

power in this situation, she binds the Knight to a deal, putting him in a subservient position at her will His life lies in her hands rather than the other way around This puts her in the optimal position to trick him as he is at her mercy When they get to the Court, the woman requests that the Knight marry her, and even though he begs her to change her mind, since she is in the position of power, he cannot As

Jonathan Blake states in his article, ―Tricksters upset normal hierarchies and rules

of everyday or official behavior either through cleverness or foolishness ‖ The old

woman, using her dominant role, traps the Knight into a binding agreement She then asks him to choose whether he would like her to be young and unfaithful or old

and loyal He replies, ―My lady and my love / and wif so dere / I putte me in youre wise governaunce: / cheseth youreself which may be most pleasance ‖ (1236-1238)

From her trickery and the position that she puts him in, the Knight submits to the old lady‘s will, and she gets what women most desire

The significance of the trickster archetype in Medieval Literature is the fact

that, ―Cunning or foolish or both, Trickster‘s pranks and games serve the role of the equalizer, and in so doing, raise awareness‖ (Sutton 1) Medieval society is guided

by the rule that women are to be subservient to men, not trusted with serious matters, and inadequate at decision making Therefore, often times, women‘s voices are suppressed and ignored, so therefore, they become unhappy in marriages and

unfulfilled The old woman in The Wife of Bath‘s Tale gives a different picture,

sharing with society that women are in fact so capable and cunning, that they can outsmart men and get their way In fact, what they have to say is so important that it can cost a man‘s life if it is not said in front of a court The archetype of the woman trickster allowed the conclusion to be made at the end of the tale that if a woman is treated with respect and her wishes are granted, the relationship will be mutually

beneficial, ―And she obeyed him in everything / That might do him pleasance or liking / And thus they live unto hir lives ende / In parfit joy And eek I praye Jesu shorte hir lives / That nought wol be governed by hir wives‖ (1261-1264, 1267-

1268) This teaching, that husbands and wives should listen to each other and allow one another to have sovereignty is an important ideal It would not have been communicated unless the woman trickster in the tale had the Knight‘s life at stake because of her knowledge

3.1.2 Sexism against men

In this part, the study presents and discusses the main characteristics of sexism against men in English literature, which are gender-exclusive language, gender-restrictive language, and stereotypes against men

in 1958 in the United States, although named The Changing American Parent, only

conducted interviews with 582 mothers in the United States (Roman and Haddad

1979) The use of the word parent (father / mother) to refer to mother has excluded

the meaning of father (father) from the inclusive meaning of the word parent

Men being excluded from the role of father – birth giver - is also expressed in

the depictions of children belonging to the mother alone, as in women and their children Dominance of mother over father can be seen in expressions such as mother tongue, mother wit (natural intelligence), mother lode (main water source), mother of invention, mothering (child rearing)

In English, men as victims are also not referred to in familiar expressions such

as innocent women and children From the perspective of demanding equal rights

for women, such a way of speech is sexism towards women because they are classified in the same category as children, but from a different angle this is a gender-biased way of speech towards men because it is gender-exclusive, not counting men among the victims

3.1.2.2 Gender-restrictive language

From an early age, boys are already aware that: while a girl being called a

tomboy (a girl is as strong as a boy) is normally acceptable, it is undesirable for a boy to be called sissy (boys are as weak as girls) In the book Sexual Signatures: On Being a Man or a Woman, authors John Money and Patricia Tucker (1975)

commented:

―The current female stereotype in our culture is flexible enough to allow a girl

to behave "like a boy" without fear of being questioned about femininity, but any boy showing "girly" behavior will be immediately suspected to be weird There isn't

even a word equivalent to "tomboy" to describe such boys Maybe the word "sissy"

is the word closest, or the words "artistic" and "sensitive", but unlike the word

"tomboy" these words are full of related meanings without good will.‖ (p 72)

Thus, English has lacked a word with goodwill content or a neutral word to describe a quiet, gentle and emotional boy Therefore, this language has long had a

rich vocabulary to offend and make fun of such boys Those are the words: mama's boy, mollycoddle, milksop, muff, twit, softy, creampuff, pantywaist, weenie, miss Nancy …There's also the word wimp, although it's both when used in a joking

manner, but also used to offend men from childhood to adulthood

However, being all boy (very boyish) is self-gratification disadvantage The reason for this is, first of all, possessing many boyish characteristics means being not as cute as a girl The attitude of respecting women and looking down on men can be seen even in the very old lullabies of English people when they were young

That lullaby taught children: girls are born by ―sugar and spice and all that‘s nice‖ while boys are born from ―frogs and snails and puppy-dogs‘ tails‖ The American version of that lullaby later also had the similar content (further examples can be found in Appendix 2, a) Gender-restrictive language against men)

Girls are dandy,

Made of candy

That's what little girls are made of

Boys are rotten,

English-yellow-bellied, lily-livered, weak-kneed, spineless, squirrelly, frailly cat, gutless wonder, weakling, butterfly, jellyfish and more

Society has always expected men to show a special respect for women This has been considered as a gentlemanly / chivalrous morality since ancient times If the a man refuses to behave in such a "gentleman" manner, there have already been a series

of words that are used to show him "what is right" as regulated by cultures Those are

the words: louse, rat, creep, sleaze, scum, stain, worm, fink, heel, stinker, cad, wolf, gigolo, womanizer, Don Juan, animal, savage, bounder, pig, rotter, boor, etc

When getting married, laws and social practices stipulate that men must be the one to support his wife and children If an individual male is unsuccessful or distracted in such a mission, languages have cursed him by a series of words such

as: loser, deadbeat, bum, freeloader, leech, parasite, goldbrick, sponge, mooch, ne'er-do-well, good for nothing… etc

When he had a child, the same man discovered that he was just a secondary parent and the primary parent must be the mother This is expressed in the traditional custom of using the word mother to replace the word parent In the vast majority of divorce cases, the law has given custody of the child to the mother because the courts often say that the father cannot be a good mother (Levine, 1976)

3.1.2.3 Stereotyping towards men

Most words describing law violators refer to men more than women Such are

the words: killer, swindler, crook, criminal, burglar, thief, gangster, mobster, hood,

hitman, killer, pickpocket, mugger, terrorist

The tacit accusation to men as described above is extended to many words in

English The word suspect is one of typical examples When a perpetrator has not

been identified, the victim is usually considered male An example is provided in

Appendix 2, b) Stereotyping against men in English

In some cases, the accusation of men extends to crimes in which men are not the main perpetrators As stated in the section of gender-exclusive language,

expressions such as wife and child abuse excluded the case of husbands themselves

also get mistreated But the problem doesn't stop there: the wording suggested that it was only men who tortured children According to Straus, Gelles and Steinmetz (1981), child abuse is largely due to cause by mothers However, a study on child abuse in 1978 still bears the name Sins of the Fathers (Inglis)

Not only crimes, but also all kinds of common bad habits are attributed to men only Alcohol addiction is a prime example Author Muriel R Schulz (1986: 1 26)

stated that: ―Synonyms of the word inebriate seems to be mostly used for male, for example: boozer, drunkard, tippler, toper, swilled, tosspot, guzzler, barfly, drunk, lush, boozehound, souse, tank, stew, rummy, and bum" Likewise, in English, the word lord and the word lady are two words that differ only in similarity but only how to compare drunk as a lord rather than comparison drunk as a lady

The tendency to hold men responsible for most crimes has reached its peak in

recent times when words/phrases like patriarchy, patriarchal society, dominated society became popular Being more propagandistic than illustrative,

male-such words are quickly became meaningless as it was only used to conjure up false images of men as oppressors and women as victims Such words are just linguistic super-skills with a purpose obscures the truth that human societies are primarily made up of both sexes created and for the benefit of both sexes (Mead 1967: 299 -

300) By using expressions such as patriarchal structures or patriarchal attitude,

women can be exempt from all responsibilities while men have to shoulder all burdens for all the defects of society This can be easily seen when the word

patriarchy and related words are never used in positive or neutral contexts, on the

contrary, are always used when people need to hold men accountable

Surprisingly, the aforementioned characteristics of sexism towards men are not found in most reference materials for this thesis This may prove that gender discrimination against men was not apparent in medieval and older time, and this was only recognized and addressed properly in more recent periods

3.2 Sexist characteristics in Vietnamese literary works

As Vietnam is an Eastern nation, the influence of feudal patriarchal society o n our culture was overwhelming Sexist language was clearly expressed in Vietnamese literature, against both men and women

3.2.1 Sexism against women

In this part, the study analyzes the characteristics of sexism against women in Vietnamese literature, which are women considered goods, negative associations to women, sexism in naming, sexism in addressing and the concept of virginity

3.2.1.1 Women were considered goods

As we all know, Tale of Kieu is an immortal masterpiece of the times, as well

as a testament to the extreme discrimination of the feudal regime Through the character Thuy Kieu - a woman with both talent and beauty, who should be recognized and respected by society, but in the end she is just a commodity exchanged back and forth between the seller - the buyer only

―Cò kè bớt một thêm hai

Giờ lâu ngã giá vàng ngoài bốn trăm‖

―Cò kè‖ means ―bargain‖ in English Human‘s dignity became a kind of goods that can be calculated in the society But our female character was still willing to endure because more than anyone else, she understood her standing in that corrupt society at that time True to the saying "đau đớn thay phận đàn bà", Nguyen Du continued to depict the injustice, discrimination, and dependence of women in the society old society with very harsh verses

―Cành hoa đem bán vào thuyền lái buôn‖

―Cành hoa‖ – a flower branch, is a metaphor depicting Thúy Kiều, as she was sold to human traffickers with a dirt cheap price

―Sính nghi rẻ giá, nghi hôn sẵn sàng‖

―Sính nghi rẻ giá‖ originally means a low wedding fee, but in this instance, it

is used to depict the way Mã Giám Sinh bought Kiều for a cheap price

The Vietnamese feudal ruling class uses the philosophy of Confucianism and the morality of Confucianism to tie people up emotionally and spiritually To young people, Confucian morality is even more cruel as youth is age of earnest love, but feudal discipline was very arbitrary towards love between men and women The marriage and family-making of young men and women in the past was entirely up

to their parents to decide Under the feudal system, the privileges of husbands and fathers made women‘s life very miserable They knew no freedom as being molded into rules of "three obedience‘s and four virtues" Specifically as in the story "The moral wife in Khoai Chau/Người nghĩa phụ ở Khoái Châu", the dissolute male character Trọng Qùy was intrigued by Trọng Tam to bet his wife on a gamble and lost, thus according to the contract his wife Nhị Khanh belonged to the rich merchant Đỗ "You should temporarily go with that guy, spoil him good, I shall

soon return with money to claim you back.‖/ Nàng nên tạm về với người mới, khéo chiều chuộng hắn, rồi bất nhật tôi, sẽ đem tiền đến chuộc [7,247]

Further example about women being considered goods or possession are listed

in Appendix 2, table 6 Under certain circumstances, a husband may sell his wife because of he has no home and no parents We can see that a wife is just a man's property which can declared for sale when in need (Appendix 3, a) Women considered goods or possession in Vietnamese literature)

A woman is only recognized by her husband's name because they belong to their husband and such husband is responsible for all aspects of his wife We can see that in the old feudal society, when a woman got married, she lost her last name

as she had to take her husband‘s last name or being called by his title And when she had an offspring, the baby must take the father's last name, as depicted in Truyện Kiều (Appendix, Table 6)

This also means that mothers only gives birth to the flesh body but men themselves gave birth to humanity Specifically, in Vietnamese, when a woman named Liên get married to a man named Nguyên, she will be called by her husband's name as Mrs Nguyên

In the society at that time, women were deprived of basic human rights, they were bound by the harsh laws of feudalism and outdated views They had

no voice and depended on their husband even when his life is threatened or even leads to death

For example, in the novel ―The story of a woman in Nam Xương/Truyện người con gái Nam Xương‖, Vũ Thị Thiết had to sacrifice her life because of the arbitrary

and patriacal husband (Appendix 3a, Truyện người con gái Nam Xương)

The paragraph illustrated that before jumping down the river, she washed herself, go to the wharf of Hoàng Giang, claiming her innocence and loyalty to her husband towards the heaven The reason was because of the feudal society not allowing her to speak, not allowing her to prove her virtuous Through the image of Truong Sinh, we can partly see reflection of the grim patriarchal feudal society pushing people to the point of no way out Or in Tales of Kieu, this was also clearly reflected, as the corrupted feudal system forced women to have no choice but to sacrifice

Giận duyên tủi phận bời

Cầm dao nàng đã toan bài quyên sinh [3]

The passive status of women in the ancient society is reflected in many literary works of that time and through proverbs passed down in the society It shows that in the old society, when there was no gender equality, women suffer many unfair disadvantages or in other words is stigmatized

3.2.1.2 Women were associated with sex – men were associated with talent

This is expressed not only through everyday speech but also in both folk songs and proverbs Because in the mentality of our people in feudal-patriarchal period, they still held firmly the concept of being a son must be associated with the career

of fame and take the career as the priority, while the daughter is not the most important is family (her husband and children were more important)

This folk song stated that being a male, the highest priority is his career, marrying or having children are just secondary goals (Appendix 3b, ―làm trai chí ở cho bền‖)

Vietnamese medieval literature also clearly illustrated the aforementioned attitude: (Appendix 3b, ―sứ mệnh cần lao, tang bồng khí khái)

“Tang bồng‖ is short for ―tang bồng hồ thỉ ‖, which “tang” means

―mulberry‖, ―hồ‖ means ―bow‖, ―tang bồng‖ means ―bow made from mulberry wood‖, ―bồng‖ is ―artemisia grass‖, ―thỉ” is ―arrow‖, ―hồ thỉ‖ is ―arrow made from

artemisia grass‖ According to Chinese ancient custom, when a boy was born, his family would fire off this bow six times, with four shoots in four directions, one towards the sky and one towards the earth This action means that when the boy grows up, he shall ―shoulder the nation with his shoulder‖, setting his feet across the

land Thus, ―tang bồng‖ is often used in phrases such as ―Chí tang bồng‖, ―nợ tang bồng‖, ―tang bồng khí khái‖ Boys were often associated with such noble dreams,

while girls were always considered ― Bèo bọt chút thân‖, meaning water-fern, implying a fate of straying, lonely and insignificant

Men are associated with careers of studying and ranking exams, while wo men

can only stay within their home waitting for the day of marriage ―Chàng là kẻ sĩ đoan chính đọc sách, thiếp khuê phòng chờ ngày lấy chồng, chỉ mong được người như chàng để hầu hạ mà thôi‖ [7,428]